re: #348 danarchy

Granted. However, I can get a pack of 24 regular incandescents for 20 bucks whereas a pair of equivalent halogens cost about 7 bucks. For a light that is rarely on and is only on for a couple minutes at a time when it is, I’d rather be able to get a regular old incandescent bulb.

I suspect that thermal cycling is a driving lifetime factor in a usage scenario like this, where the number of on-off occasions (rather than a naive number of hours) is what eventually makes the bulb crap out. In this case, combined with the likely higher manufacturing cost (both money-cost and eg environmental cost) of a halogen bulb would suggest the dumb cold incandescent wins. Your scenario may not quite be stringent enough to reach this break-even point, but that break-even point exists.

Either way, it’s a fringe usage and it’s not surprising or shocking that these bulbs are disappearing and should disappear.